Demystifying Medicine One Week at a Time

Artist’s rendering of Central Library. It turned out as good as it looks.

In Tulsa the flagship downtown Central Library just re-opened after a three-year renovation.

It’s been spectacularly re-designed and updated with all of the latest library technology. It includes the nation’s only (to this point) embedded Starbucks Coffee–a plus or minus depending on your viewpoint. (Some academic libraries at universities already contain them.)

A recent newspaper article profiled another important feature of the Tulsa library: A full-time social worker.

As you may or may not know, depending on where you live and how much you use your public library, urban libraries are often visited by people in transition–those that are jobless, homeless, and who frequently have stable or unstable mental illness.

After all–libraries are free, have resources, generally have available computer time and tutorials, and kind librarians who can help with requests.

Many libraries now have social workers and other representatives of social service agencies that can help with issues like finding places to live, regular sources of food, and employment options.

I was glad to read about Deborah Hunter in Tulsa. Her story is all the more poignant because she’s driven by the fact that her own daughter was diagnosed with schizophrenia–a challenge that propelled her to get a professional degree.

I love our new library, and I’m glad that the library and Tulsa’s Family and Children’s Services are doing what they can to offer help to those in need.

2 Comments

Thank you for this. I am a social worker living in Austin, TX. I recently heard a radio news story about our local librarians helping homeless come in from inclement weather, even coming to work early to let them in on particularly cold mornings. Social workers in libraries make a lot of sense!